Friends And Foes
by Just A Girl Of Hogwarts-x
Summary: Imagine that Tonks attended and the Marauders attended Hogwarts at the same time. R&R please. This is a slight AU story too.
1. Chapter 1: Snows And Trees

**Imagine that Tonks and the Marauders went to the Hogwarts at the same time, and there was a Christmas Ball in one week. Will their be Romance? R&R Please**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, the legend JK Rowling does. **

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Nymphadora Tonks walked about Hogwarts alone. She had no friends to talk to, no-one to confide in, she was just the freakish fifth year Hufflepuff who could change her appearance. She was walking around the lake, everything was covered in white, she loved the winter. She sighed as she thought about the Christmas Ball that was approaching, and how no one had asked her. She felt the warmth of her gloves on her hands, and the yellow and black scarf that was wrapped around her neck. She made to sit down at a tree but felt large, cold hands ram her into the tree instead. She heard her back and head thump against the hard bark, slightly hurting her. She looked up to see a group girls Slytherins circling her, their faces smug.

"Let go of _me._" She hissed, trying to kick the person nearest to her. The person who had a secure hold of her shoulders tightened their grip.

"Aww, ickle Nymphadora can't even defend herself." A Slytherin girl teased. She recognised the girl as Camilla Stevens, the girl who had made her life a misery the past five years. Her followers were behind her, but she didn't know her name.

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" She replied through gritted teeth. 'If only I could get my wand.' she thought to herself.

The person holding Tonks was starting to hurt her, he removed her off the tree trunk and slammed her back onto it, so he could get a tighter hold of her. Tonks recognised the person as a Slytherin and Camilla's boyfriend.

"How dare you speak to me, after all your mother is a dirty blood-traitor. She did marry a mudblood." She exclaimed, spitting at Nymphadora's feet.

She felt anger building inside. "You shut up about my mother!" She screamed, and she started to writhe against the strong boy. He kicked her in the stomach and she groaned in pain. She wanted to scream for help, but their was no one else outside with them.

Even though she knew this, she still screeched "HELP!" hoping to get the attention of someone. She knew she was powerless, as she couldn't move to get her wand. The boy kicked her again and she was barely able to keep herself conscious. She spotted four boys walking outside and she screamed "HELP!" once more and then the rest was a blur.

She awoke and found that two boys were duelling the boy that had kicked her in the stomach, and a boy was crouching next to her. He looked quite tall, his grey eyes were sparkling and his hair was brown and messy. 'He's quite good looking.' She thought to herself.

"Are you alright?" He asked, offering her his hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said shyly, taking his hand and pulling herself up, her stomach was killing her, and she moaned in pain when she stood up.

"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked again, noticing that she winced in pain.

"I swear, I'm fine. I just got kicked in the stomach a couple of times. Thanks for helping me." She said, giving him a small smile. Noticing she still had a hold of his hand, she quickly removed it, her face turning a crimson red.

He grinned and said, "Don't mention it." He saw her bag on the floor and he passed it to her.

James and Sirius walked up to them both, the Slytherin boy had legged it.

"You alright? We heard you shout." James said, putting his wand away.

"Y-yeah, thanks for helping me."

"No problem, I'm James Potter, this idiot is Sirius Black, and finally last but not least, meet Remus Lupin."

"Hey, where's Peter?" Lupin asked.

"I think he ran off. I have no idea how he got into Gryffindor, he's harmless, but a big wimp." Sirius said, laughing at himself.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Nymphadora Tonks. But I hate my name with a passion, so you can just call me Tonks." She said, smiling at them all.

"Nymphadora Tonks? Why does that name sound familiar." Sirius pondered for a few minutes and then burst out with. "Hello long-lost cousin!" He said giving her a hug.

"Huh? My cousin?" She asked, totally flabbergasted.

"Well, how do I explain this. Your mums called Andromeda right?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah. That's right." Tonks replied.

"Well, your mum's dad is my hag of a mothers sister. So that would made us second cousins. Welcome to the family of hell." He laughed.

"Anyways, why were those Slytherins picking on you?" Remus asked, smiling at her.

"Lots of reasons. They say I'm a freak because I have an ability that they don't, and because of my mother. My mother married a muggle-born, so my family is considered blood-traitors." Tonks explained.

"Your ability?" James asked. "What do you mean ability?"

"I mean this." Tonks started to screw up her face, and in seconds, her hair turned from bright blonde to neon pink.

"Whoa! That is so cool!" Sirius said, fascination spread across his face.

She screwed up her face again, and changed her hair back to bright blonde, only this time it was a little longer and she had a fringe.

"Anyways, I'd better go. Professor McGonagall said I would get a months worth of detention if I didn't hand my homework in again." She said, fixing her hair.

"We get that all the time." Sirius said rather proudly, Tonks just laughed.

"You two do, I happen to do my homework, while you two beg me to finish yours." Remus said, a smile spreading across his face. 'He looks cute when he smiles.' She kept thinking.

"I can imagine," she said sarcastically. "So I guess I'll see you around."

"Feel free to come and hand about with us any time you want." James said, messing up his hair.

"Will do. Bye." She smiled at Lupin, turned around and walked back to the castle.

Nymphadora walked back to the Common Room with a grin on her face. She had finally made friends.

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**So there you have the first chapter, I will update soon. Promise :) **

**Please read and review. **


	2. Chapter 2: Tonks, Meet Lily

**So here's chapter 2. Hope you like it.**

**R&R Please :)**

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Tonks awoke early the next morning, wondering if she would meet Sirius, James or Remus before class started. She dressed quickly, and changed her hair colour a few times before settling on the same blonde that she had worn yesterday. She ran down the stairs and ran towards the portrait, but her foot got stuck in the rug and she went flying forwards. She quickly got up, trying to avoid another reason to get made fun of.

She exited through the portrait and ran down the Grand Staircase, and amazingly, she didn't fall or trip over. She entered the Great Hall, and luckily very few people had arrived yet. She sat down at the Hufflepuff table, picked up a piece of toast and ate it thoughtfully. She thought about the Christmas Ball and how she probably wouldn't go, considering no one had asked her and she didn't have a dress. She was so lost in her thoughts that she jumped out of her seat when someone tapped her one the shoulder.

"Morning cousin." Sirius sang, helping her up. "How are you?"

"I was fine, but you came and I nearly had a heart attack!" Playfully hitting him.

"Ouch, that hurt Nymphadora." He moaned, rubbing his arm.

"Don't call me Nymphadora, or else it will really hurt." She threatened.

"Okay Tonks. Won't happen again. So, what have you got first?" He asked, grabbing a piece of toast and stuffing it into his mouth.

"You pig." She joked. "I've got Transfiguration. You?"

"We've got Transfiguration too. That's strange, I've never seen you in our class before." Remus said, looking confused.

"That's because I always sit at the back, and you sit at the front so McGonagall will notice you, and then you get in trouble." She laughed, fixing her hair.

"Got that right." James said proudly. "We're going to class now, you want to walk with us?" James asked, flicking bits of food at the Slytherin table.

"Yeah, okay." Tonks grabbed her bag and the four of them made their way to Transfiguration. About halfway there she asked. "Where's your friend Peter?"

"Oh, him." James replied flatly. "Don't know. We don't really like him anymore, he made fun of you so Sirius punched him in the face."

"W-why was he making fun of me?" She asked, felling hurt.

"He said that you couldn't stand up for yourself when the Slytherins had you up against that tree." Remus said.

"Like he can talk." Sirius said. "The little toerag legged it."

"A-and you punched him?" Tonks asked, feeling pleased that someone had finally stood up for her.

"Yeah, there was blood everywhere, it was quite funny." Sirius replied, a grin spreading across his face.

She gave him a hug and said, "Thank you." to him.

"Just helping a family member." Sirius replied before adding. "A sane family member that is."

She started to laugh and before they knew it they were outside of Transfiguration.

The bell hadn't rang yet, so they hung about outside when Lily Evans appeared.

"Alright Evans? Fancy going-" James started but she cut him off.

"No, no, no and no! I will never go out with you." She replied to James, she looked at Tonks and said. "Hi, I'm Lily, who are you?" She asked.

"Hey, I'm Nymphadora Tonks, but please just call me Tonks. I absolutely hate my name." She replied, smiling at the red head.

"Oh I know who you are! You're the Metamorphmagus in Hufflepuff." She finished.

Tonks waited for it, but it didn't come. "So you don't think I'm a freak?" She asked.

"No, you're not a freak. In fact you sound like a really nice person." Lily said kindly.

"You're probably the only person that doesn't think that."

"We don't think you're a freak, dearest cousin." Sirius interjected.

"C-cousins?!" Lily choked out. "You and him are related?! You poor, poor girl." She joked.

"Hey Evans! Don't be so mean." Sirius said, giving her his famous sad eyes.

Before she could reply, professor McGonagall came out of the classroom in her dark green robes, her hair tied up into a bun. She waited for the class to line up and she lead them in, and they all went to sit in their seats.

"Tonks!" Lily said. "Come and sit next to me!"

Tonks walked towards her and sat down in the empty seat next to her. They got out their books, quills and ink.

"So Tonks, have you got a dress for the Christmas Ball yet?" Lily asked, playing with her hair.

"No. I actually don't think I'm going to go. No ones asked me." She replied.

"That doesn't matter! No ones asked me either. I haven't got my dress either. I was actually going to go into Hogsmeade on Saturday and get one. Do you want to come? Please say you'll come." Lily begged until Tonks gave in.

"I suppose, can't hurt. Why don't you ask James Potter? I think he likes you." Tonks replied smiling at her new friend.

"I would never ever go out with James Potter. He's arrogant and a prat." Lily replied.

"He and his friends were nice to me yesterday when the Slytherins had me against a tree." Tonks said.

"Had you up against a tree?! I hate Slytherins. James helped you?" She questioned.

"Yeah, well Sirius and Remus helped me too. Why don't you give him a chance?"

"Because he probably doesn't even like me. He probably keeps asking me just so he can boast to his friends. Anyways, what have you got next?" Lily asked.

"Potions. My worst subject." Tonks replied.

"So have I. Can I see your timetable a minute?"

Tonks handed her timetable to Lily and minutes later Lily returned it to her.

"It looks like we've got five classes together today." Lily told her.

"Cool."

"Excuse me. Quiet please." Professor McGonagall addressed the class, and it immediately fell silent. "Today, you won't be needing you books." The class broke into chatter. "Gryffindor! Hufflepuff! Silence please." Once again the noise stopped. "You won't be needing your books today because we are going to learn the art of dancing."


	3. Chapter 3: Time To Dance

**Chapter 3 up. :) Hope you like it. **

**R&R Please?? I'll cry if you don't. Only Joking.. :P **

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"Dance?" Tonks asked, that feeling of dread spreading through her.

"Yes Miss Tonks, dance. Is that a problem?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Actually Professor, it is. You see, I have two left feet." Tonks pleaded.

"That's too bad Nymphadora. I'm sure you'll be fine. Is that quite clear?"

"Yes Professor." Tonks replied.

The reason I am teaching you to dance is because I want my house to be sophisticated and responsible at this event, you have an image to maintain as Gryffindors. The same applies to Hufflepuff too. Now then, I need to put you into partners. Lets see, Evans and Potter, Black and Smith, Tonks and Lupin…"

After McGonagall had put everyone into pairs, Tonks and Lily walked towards their partners.

"Lily, I'm sure it'll be fine." Tonks assured her walking up to Remus.

"Of all the people in the world, she had to put me with him!" Lily ranted, walking up to James. "Don't say a word of else I will ruin that pretty little face of yours." Lily threatened.

"Ah, so you think my face is pretty?" James asked, smirking at her.

"Just shut it." Lily snapped.

Tonks was struggling to keep her laughter in, she glanced at Remus who looked like he was going to burst out laughing too.

"I'm so sorry that you got stuck with me. Honestly, I really do have two left feet." Tonks said to Lupin, he only smiled at her.

"I'm sure you're not as bad as me."

They glanced over at Sirius, who was flirting with his partner.

"Is he always like that?" Tonks asked.

"Oh yeah." Lupin replied.

"Now then, attention please! Okay, boys place your right hand on your partners waist, and girls place your right hand on their shoulder. Then you take each others left hand. Get into positions please!"

Lupin quickly put his hand on Tonks's waist, she placed hers gently on his shoulder, then they clasped their two left hands together.

Professor McGonagall used her wand to make the record player turn on and within seconds the classroom was filled with the noise of waltz music.

"And, one two three, one two three, one two three, one two.."

Tonks and Lupin started to move and everything was going smoothly, so far. 'Just remember one two three, one two three, one two three, Tonks. Don't lost it now.' she kept thinking to herself over and over again.

She looked over her shoulder and saw James and Lily dancing, Lily was telling James to stop being so immature, and amazingly he said something that made her laugh. She turned her attention back to Remus.

"You know, you're pretty good at this." Tonks said to Lupin.

"Yeah well don't tell anyone, but I was forced to take dance lessons when I was little." Lupin said looking a little embarrassed.

"I won't tell, promise." She smiled at him, she lost her concentration and stumbled a bit.

"Careful." He said catching her.

"Thanks." She said. "Told you I had two left feet." She joked. "So who are you going to the Ball with?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

"No one." He said, pulling her a little closer.

"I'm amazed. I thought there would be a queue of girls wanting to go with you." Tonks replied.

"Well, one or two girls have asked me, but I turned them down."

"Why?" Tonks asked.

"Because, they weren't my type." He answered flatly. "What about you?"

"No ones asked me." She said.

Before he could say anything else Professor McGonagall interrupted. "Excuse me! You're all doing a wonderful job, but I would like to see each couple on their own, just to see who needs more help. Ah, Miss Tonks and Mr Lupin, we'll start with you."

'Oh no.' She thought to herself. 'Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! I can't do this in front of everyone. I'll trip or fall over!'

The music started and she felt herself being lead around the classroom by Remus, knowing that Remus had taken dance classes, she relaxed a bit. After about three minutes of spinning around the room, the record player came to a halt. She was quite relieved considering all the spinning made her feel dizzy.

"Very good. You may take a seat." McGonagall told them.

They sat down and watched the next few couples present themselves to everyone. James and Lily went next and surprisingly, they were very good. Sirius and the girl he was with were the worst couple, Sirius kept standing on her feet. Tonks and Remus cracked up laughing. McGonagall dismissed class and Tonks and Lily made their way to potions.

"Ah! Good morning class!" Professor Slughorn cried.

"Morning." The class muttered in unison.

"Today we are going to revise for your O.W.L's."

The whole class groaned. After a very long lesson of revising poisonous mushrooms and their cures, the bell finally rang for break.

Lily and Tonks went outside into the school grounds for the fresh air and so they could discuss the Divination homework.

"I really don't get it." Lily said, taking a look at her dream diary. "I wake up in the morning, and I have to fill in this stupid book. I normally forget, and by the time I got to fill it in I always forget what I'd dreamt about."

"I don't mind the subject," Tonks said, looking at Lily's dream diary. "except sometimes I would prefer if I didn't have to share my dreams, so I just make it up."

"I'll have to try that. Oh no!" Lily exclaimed. "I've left my Potions book in Professor Slughorn's classroom. I'll see you at lunch okay?"

Tonks nodded at her, and waved her goodbye.

She started to walk to the greenhouse for Herbology, she wasn't too bad at it. Professor Sprout greeted her, and Tonks sat at a table by herself, just like normal. Professor Sprout spent half the lesson talking about Devil's Snare, and the other half talking about O.W.L's. It was the exact same lecture as all the other teachers had mentioned in their class. The bell rang, and the next lesson was just a blur until the lunch bell rang. She was running to meet Lily for lunch when Camilla stood in front of her.

"Hello Nymphadora." Camilla sneered.


	4. Chapter 4: Catfight!

**Fourth chapter, sorry it took me so long to update:)**

**R&R please!**

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"What do you want?" Tonks asked, reaching into her pocket for her wand.

"To finish you off." She replied, a grin spreading across her face.

Before Tonks had time to react, a white light flew out of Camilla's wand and sent her flying backwards, she just managed to let out a scream before being smashed into the wall. Her whole body ached and she could see her white shirt being stained with blood, she was covered in cuts.

"W-what did you do?!" She asked weakly.

"Just a little spell I learned from home." She replied laughing.

Then Tonks felt like she was being poked with red hot pokers, and she started to scream in agony. She saw Camilla running away. With the last of the strength she managed to scream. "LILY! SIRIUS! REMUS! JAMES!" Hopefully one of the four would hear her scream and come and help her. She saw everything going black and she heard someone scream and then a boy whispered "Dora" softly in her ear before she passed out.

She woke up in the Hospital Wing and saw four people sat around her.

"Tonks! Thank goodness you're okay!" Lily cried, giving her a hug.

"I-I'm fine, what happened?" She asked.

"Well, someone hit you with a spell, I'm not sure what it was. Anyways, whoever did it ran away, we heard you scream our names so we ran out of the hall, to see what happened. We found you lying on the ground unconscious and you were covered in blood. It was horrible." Lily said, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Camilla." Tonks groaned.

"Who's Camilla?" Lupin asked.

"The girl who hit me with that spell. She has it in for me." Tonks replied, sitting up. "How long have I been unconscious?" She asked.

"A day." Sirius replied. "But Madam Pomfrey said you could leave tomorrow."

"Oh, okay." She replied.

"Anyways, we're really sorry Tonks, but James and I have detention with McGonagall, we'll come and see you tomorrow." Sirius explained, and saying their goodbyes, they both left.

"Yeah, sorry but I have to go too Tonks. Prefect duties. I'll come and visit tomorrow too. Bye." She gave Tonks a hug, grabbed her bag and left the Hospital Wing.

It was just her and Remus. Alone. 'I like him, he's a friend.' she thought to herself. 'I don't like him that way, I can't. Yet there's something so trusting in his eyes. Maybe I do like him, but there's no way he likes me.' she told herself this over and over again in her head until it finally stuck.

"Madam Pomfrey said that she healed all your cuts. You just to rest." Lupin said, looking straight at her.

"That's good, I can't wait to be out of here. Hospitals scare me." Tonks said, smiling at him. "Before I passed out, I heard someone call me Dora, was it you?" She asked, her face turning pink.

"Yeah, that was me. I don't like calling you Tonks, there isn't anything wrong with your first name."

"You and my mother would get on great." She joked. "I'll tell you what, you can call me Dora if I can call you Loopy."

"I suppose." He said before laughing.

"So Loopy, what have I missed while I've been in here?" She asked.

"Not a lot Dora, James and Sirius for talking. Today hasn't been very exciting."

They both sat in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes before Lupin started to look through his bag.

"Here." He said handing her something. "This fell out of your bag yesterday."

She looked at the item and recognised it as a small plush teddy bear.

"Thank you," She said. "My parents gave it to me when I was small, and I used to take it everywhere with me. I guess its just a comforter." She gave his arm a squeeze as a way of saying thank you again.

"I'd better go, I have a ton of homework. We'll all come and visit you tomorrow. Bye Dora." He said, smiling at her.

"Bye Loopy!" She said, giving him a mischievous grin, then she stuck out her tongue.

He gave her a quick wave and hurried out of the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey hurried out of her office minutes later and shoved a bottle of dreamless sleeping potion down her throat. Immediately after taking the potion she started to feel woozy, and within minutes she was fast asleep.

She awoke the next morning, feel a lot better than she had in a while. She looked around the room and saw Madam Pomfrey fussing over another student lying in the bed next to her. She looked over to see who it was and it wasn't who she had expected.

"Loopy?" She said, feeling utterly confused. She had only seen him last night and he was fine. He said he was going to do homework.

She quietly got out of bed and went to stand next to his bedside.

"Loopy?" She whispered again, not wanting to believe what she was seeing.

He looked tired and worn out. He had a few cuts on his face, but apart from that he looked fine.

She watched him sleeping for a long time, waiting for him to wake up. Two hours later, he slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey sleepy head." She joked, beaming at him.

"Morning." He replied, his voice was hoarse.

"What happened to you?" She asked.

"Fell down the stairs." He replied, climbing out of bed.

"Happens to me all the time." She laughed, picking up her bag. "Are you going to the Great Hall?"

"Yeah I am." Said Lupin.

"Great. I'll come with you." She replied.

"Okay Dora. Lets go." He mocked, he left the Hospital Wing with Tonks not far behind him.

They entered the Great Hall and saw everyone eating their breakfast. She saw Lily sitting with her friends from Gryffindor and Sirius and James sitting together. Lupin went and joined them, and Tonks made her way over to speak to Lily. Lily noticed her walking towards her and made extra room so she could sit down.

"Tonks!" She exclaimed. "I thought we were going to come and see you at lunch time." said Lily, filling Tonks's plate with food.

"I had to get out of there, hospitals give me the creeps." picking up her fork, Tonks began to eat.

"I can understand that." Lily replied. "Oh, by the way I want you to meet some friends of mine. Tonks, this is Danielle, Sarah and Claire." She pointed to three girls who gave Tonks a friendly smile.

"Hi, nice to meet you all." She said, giving all a kind smile in return.

"Hey Tonks! We are going to have the ultimate sleepover on Saturday after we've been shopping. You have to come!" Danielle said cheerfully.

"Okay, can't wait." She replied.

"We're all going to class," said Claire. "Want to come with us?"

"Okay." She picked up her bag, and the four of them started to leave the Great Hall. She noticed Camilla sitting staring at Tonks, she was laughing at what she did yesterday. It was too much for her to take.

"YOU!" She screamed, stomping towards Camilla. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME! AND YOU'VE STILL GOT THE NERVE TO SIT AND LAUGH AT ME!" Camilla stood up, looking half-amused, half-annoyed.

She was about to respond, but was cut off with Tonks's fist hitting her face. She stumbled backwards a bit, blood trickling from her mouth. She swung her hand round and the Great Hall was filled with the sound of a hand hitting skin. Tonks was livid, and not thinking about what she was doing, pounced on Camilla. She pulled her hair and punched her again, she had completely lashed out. She had lost control she was about to strike another punch when she felt three girls trying to restrain her. She managed to fight them off, but wasn't so lucky when she felt three stronger set of hands pull her off of Camilla and restrained her from moving.

"Dora!" Lupin exclaimed. "Calm down!"

She let herself relax for a moment, and felt herself getting calmer by the second. Camilla had run off by the time she was completely calm. The three boys had loosened their grip, but still kept a small hold of her.

"Bloody hell Tonks! I didn't know you could hit that hard." Sirius said, letting go of her. "I have to say I'm proud."

She laughed nervously, and turned round to Lily.

"Lily, I'm really sorry. I just lost control, she was just sitting laughing at me. I know that you're a prefect, so I don't blame you if you give me a detention." said Tonks, hoping she hadn't ruined a friendship already.

"I'm not going to give you a detention Tonks, like you said, she provoked you. It wouldn't be fair to give you a detention and not give her a detention too. I know you're sorry too." She added.

"Lillies! I'm shocked! You actually didn't give someone a detention." James said sarcastically.

"Don't call me Lillies." She said through gritted teeth. "We'd better be going to class." The four girls left the Great Hall and made their way to their morning class.

The next few days were a blur for Tonks, and it finally drew up to Friday night. She packed her things for the sleepover that night. So she wouldn't be rushing about the next morning. After lots of tripping over clothes and bumping into furniture. After a busy night, Tonks was glad to put her head down onto her pillow and fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 5: Shopping For A Dress

**Chapter 5 for you all. Hope you like it.**

**R&R Please :) Oh and thanks for all your reviews! Keep them coming:P**

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Tonks heard her alarm ring seven in the morning and she wished that she could press the alarm off and go back to sleep. But today she was going shopping with her friends. She found it hard to believe that she was going to Hogsmeade with friends. She slowly got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, half asleep. She took a shower, which woke her up, then she quickly dried and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. She dressed into a grey t-shirt, three-quarter length jeans, and a pair of silver pumps. She double checked she had everything, including the money she had left over from past birthday's. She tightly fastened the galleons into her purse. She left the Hufflepuff common room, exited down the Grand Staircase and began to wait for Lily in the Entrance Courtyard. She spotted a redhead girl enter into the courtyard and she waved her over.

"Claire and Sarah aren't coming, they wanted to spend the day getting the dormitory ready. They say they'll see you later on. Although they sent the request that we bring sweets back."

"Okay. Guess it's just you and me then. I'll happily shop for sweets any day." said Tonks, who was grinning.

"That's what I said." Lily laughed. "But I will not return to Hogwarts until I have purchased a dress."

"Well, we'd better get going or else we could be there all night." Tonks joked. The two girls walked arm-in-arm on their journey to Hogsmeade.

The street was busy with excited students, they were going everywhere. Lily steered Tonks towards a shop that sold dresses. The variety was endless, there was rows upon rows of dresses, all of which were truly magnificent. There was a door at the back of the room, and through it hundreds and hundreds of pairs of shoes were displayed.

"Hey Tonks!" cried Lily. "Come and see this!"

Tonks walked over to Lily, who had a shiny light pink dress in her hand. It had short sleeves, which puffed out, the skirt was knee length and it had petticoats underneath. It wasn't too low-cut, Tonks thought it looked beautiful.

"That would look really nice on you." Tonks told Lily.

"Not for me silly! You! I bet it would look lovely on you. Go on, you have to try it on!" said Lily, handing her the dress.

Tonks looked at the shelves and found a very light cream dress hanging there. It had thin straps, the dress flowed to the floor. It looked very elegant.

"I'll try it on if you try this on." Tonks handed Lily the dress, who stood and admired it for several seconds.

"Deal. We'd better get into the line or else we truly will be here all night."

Tonks and Lily waited in the line to try their dresses on for about ten minutes when two booths became free. Tonks slowly put the dress on, afraid that she would fall and rip it. After she fastened the zipper, she left the booth and found Lily standing outside, waiting to see Tonks wearing her dress.

"Tonks, you look beautiful!" Lily cried in delight.

"You do too." She said. "You definitely need to but that."

"Same to you." said Lily jokingly.

"I'll only buy it if I can find a pair of shoes to match. I'm going to change, I'm afraid I'm damage the dress." Tonks rushed back into the changing room and she quickly changed back into her clothes.

She and Lily wandered through the door at the back of the room, not sure where to start. There was all the different shoes that could come into the human mind. They had every colour, every size, it was fantastic. Tonks saw a pair of sparkly pink ballet pumps, she didn't want to wear heels because she knew that her feet would be aching by the end of the night and because she knew that she would fall and embarrass herself. She tried on the shoes and they felt perfect, they were just the right size and everything.

"Lily!" She cried. "How are you doing?"

"Not too bad. I think I've found a pair. Come and see what you think!"

Tonks dodged the obstacles of falling shoes until she finally found Lily. 'This place is like a maze.' she thought to herself. Lily was looking at a pair white shoes, they had a very small heel and they had a strap so they wouldn't fly off. After a very long descussion of whether she should buy them or not, she decided to. They both emerged from the shop, with bags in their hands, glad that they had found their dresses.

"Do you want to go to Honeydukes?" Lily asked.

"I would never say no to a visit to Honeydukes." Tonks enthusiastically.

"Well that's settled then." Lily replied, and together they walked to Honeydukes.

As soon as Tonks entered the sweet shop she felt a warmth spread through her. Jingling her purse, she guessed she had about sixteen galleons left. She saw lollipops bigger than her head, sugar quills, and the biggest basket of chocolate frogs she had ever seen. She picked up a basket and dropped four lollipops into it. She grabbed a couple of sugar quills for Transfiguration. She couldn't resist to pick up the basket of chocolate frogs, she would share them with everyone tonight.

"Tonks?" Lily asked, who was carrying two full baskets of sweets. "Ready to pay?"

"Yeah. Let's do it."

They both purchased their items and then exited back out into the blistering cold. The snow was knee deep and Tonks could feel her legs freezing.

"T-Tonks?" said Lily through chattering teeth. "C-can we g-go into the T-Three Broomsticks?"

"I thought y-you'd never a-ask." Tonks replied.

They ploughed through the snow until they saw the entrance to the Three Broomsticks. Lily went ahead to buy drinks and Tonks started to search for an empty table. She spotted one right in the back and she made her way over. She got about halfway there when her foot got caught around and chair leg and she felt herself falling over. She felt a set of hands catch her so she stood back up and looked at the person who had saved her from embarrassment.

"Thanks Loopy." She said staring at him.

"No problem Dora." He replied.

Their eyes met each other, and they kept their gaze for about thirty seconds. Lily shook them back into reality.

"Tonks, did you manage to find a table." Lily asked, holding two Butterbeers in her hands.

"Uh yeah, there's one over there." Tonks pointed to the table at the back and Lily went and sat down.

"Umm, I guess I'll see you later." Tonks said, smiling at him. "Oh and thanks again."

She went and joined Lily who had a wide grin spread across her face.

"What are you so happy about?" Tonks asked, taking a sip of Butterbeer, the warmth of it spread through her, and she felt a lot better.

"Nothing." She happily replied.

"What is it? Come on, you can tell me." Tonks said, wondering why she was so happy.

"It just seems to me that you like Remus."

"Of course I do, he's a friend." said Tonks.

"I didn't mean it in that way. Come on, just admit it. You fancy Remus Lupin.

Tonks suddenly felt her face growing warm, she guessed that she had blushed.

"See you do! The colour of your face is as good as a confession." Lily replied grinning.

"Maybe I do. But there is no way he would be interesting in me." Tonks replied. "Can we drop it please?" She asked.

"Course we can." Lily replied finished the last of her Butterbeer. "What time is it?"

"It's about half five." said Tonks, looking at her watch.

"We'd better go. The sleepover starts at seven. Claire and Sarah would have my head if we were late."

"Yeah okay. I'm getting kind of hungry too, by the time we get back dinner will be ready." Tonks picked up the rest of her bags and they walked back to Hogwarts castle.

The Great Hall was full of hungry, excited kids. Girls were looking at their dresses in awe and boys were admiring the prank materials that they had bought front Zonko's Joke Shop. Lily and Tonks sat down at the Gryffindor table and they both piled their plates full with food.

"So, has anyone asked you to the ball Lily?" Tonks asked.

"A few people, but I've turned them down. They were arrogant and full of themselves." Lily replied, taking a bite of her macaroni cheese.

"I'll tell you what, we'll both go together, without a boy and we'll still have a good time. Deal?" asked Tonks.

"Yeah, we will. You're a really good friend Tonks." Lily said, giving her a quick hug.

"So are you Lily, in fact you're the first friend I've had that's been a girl."

"People are idiots. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you." Lily said. "Come on, we'd better go. It's seven." Tonks left the Great Hall, ready for her first sleepover.


	6. Chapter 6: Dares

**Fifth chapter. R&R please. :)**

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Lily and Tonks walked up to the to the seventh floor, where the Gryffindor common room was. They stop out side the Fat Lady portrait when she asked for the password..

"Password?" She asked.

"Devils Snare." Lily replied, she followed Lily into the common room, which was covered in red and gold.

"Hey Lillies!" James cried. "Hey Tonks! What are you doing in here?"

"Sleepover." Tonks replied, Lily however said nothing, instead she walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitory, Tonks followed after her.

The dormitory looked completely different to the Hufflepuff version. All the beds had been pushed to the side of the room, and there was bowls upon bowls of sweets on the floor.

"I thought you wanted me to buy sweets?" Lily asked, looking at the amount they already had.

"You can never have too much sugar." Claire replied, picking up a jelly bean.

"By the looks of things, you've proved that we can. We have enough sugar to put someone into a coma." Tonks replied. "Where should I put my things?"

"If you just put them over there." Sarah pointed to the wall at the back of the room. "But wait, first we need to change into our pyjamas."

Tonks went first in the bathroom and was out in about a minute. She packed long red pyjama which were covered with little monkeys holding a daisy each . She had a white tank top with the same design as the pyjama bottoms, except it was just one big monkey holding a daisy.

Tonks exited the bathroom, then Lily entered it. She emerged wearing the same as Tonks excluding the monkeys and her pyjama bottoms were green. Claire went after Lily, then Sarah went after Claire.

"Someone turn the radio on!" She shouted from the bathroom.

Lily walked over to the radio and flicked a switch, and soon the room was filled with music.

"I love this song!" Claire cried, and she started to sing along.

la, da da da  
The smell of your skin lingers on me now  
You're probably on your flight back to your hometown  
I need some shelter of my own protection baby  
Be with myself in center, clarity  
Peace, Serenity

When the Chorus began, Sarah joined in singing.

I hope you know, I hope you know  
That this has nothing to do with you  
It's personal, myself and I  
We've got some straightening out to do  
And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their  
blanket  
But I've gotta move on with my life  
It's time to be a big girl now  
And big girls don't cry  
Don't cry,  
Don't cry,  
Don't cry

Lily joined in now, and Tonks thought that the three of them sounded good together.

The path that I'm walking, I must go alone  
I must take the baby steps till I'm full grown,

Full grown  
Fairy tales don't always have a happy ending do they  
And I for see the dark ahead if I stay

I hope you know, I hope you know  
That this has nothing to do with you  
It's personal, myself and I  
We've got some straightening out to do  
And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their  
blanket  
But I've gotta move on with my life  
It's time to be a big girl now  
And big girls don't cry

Tonks knew the words from here, so she decided to join in to.

Like a little school mate in the school yard  
We'll play jacks and Uno cards  
I'll be your best friend and you'll be my  
valentine  
Yes you can hold my hand if you want to  
'cause I wanna hold yours too  
We'll be playmates and lovers and share our secret  
worlds  
But it's time for me to go home  
It's getting late, dark outside  
I need to be with myself in center, clarity  
Peace, Serenity

I hope you know, I hope you know  
That this has nothing to do with you  
It's personal, myself and I  
We've got some straightening out to do  
And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their  
blanket  
But I've gotta get a move on with my life  
It's time to be a big girl now  
And big girls don't cry  
Don't cry,  
Don't cry,  
Don't cry

La Da Da Da Da

The four of them sang together until the song finished, then collapsed into a fit of giggles.

"Wow Tonks! You can really sing!" Sarah said, eating some popcorn.

"Thanks, you're all really good yourselves." Tonks replied, eating some chocolate. "What are we going to do now?"

"How about we play a game?" Claire suggested.

"Ooh! I know a really good game. It's called truth or dare." Lily said.

"I've heard of that. You either pick truth or dare. If you pick dare, someone dares you to do something, and you have to do it or else you receive a forfeit which you can't back out of. If you pick truth, you'll get asked on question and you have to tell the truth. I think we should use veritaserum." Sarah explained.

"I've got some in my trunk." Lily said. "I confiscated it off of a third year." Lily opened her trunk and produced a bottle of clear liquid.

"Okay, I'll go first." Claire said. "Tonks, truth or dare?"

"Um, truth."

"Lily, give her the veritaserum." Claire said, and Lily handed Tonks the bottle, she sipped it and felt like a sheet of ice was passing through her.

"Tonks," she said, a grin spreading across her face. "who do you fancy?"

"I umm, I. I fancy Remus Lupin!" Her mouth was in control and it had to shout it out.

Lily grinned and squealed. "I knew it!"

"Okay, so its my go right? I pick…Lily. Truth or dare?" Tonks said, waiting to get her payback.

"Dare."

"I dare you to go and kiss James Potter!" Tonks said, a mischievous smile spreading across her face.

"Never! I choose the forfeit!" She shouted.

"Okay then, the forfeit is to ask him to the Christmas Ball." Tonks replied.

"Fine." She got up and started to leave when Sarah shouted. "Wait! Someone needs to go with her, to make sure she actually does it."

"I'll go." Tonks volunteered, and she and Lily made their way to the Boys' Dormitory.

They reached the top of the stairs and Lily just froze, so Tonks stretched her arm out, and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" She heard her cousin reply.

She gently pushed Lily in through the door and she saw James and Sirius lying on their beds and Lupin sitting looking at a book.

"Lillies! Tonks! What brings you here?" James asked sitting up.

"Actually James, I wanted to talk to you." Lily grimaced.

She walked over to him and Tonks heard Lily ask James to the Ball really fast, but she heard her say it was a dare about five times.

"Hey Loopy. Hey Sirius." Tonks said.

"Alright Tonks?" Sirius said.

"Hi Dora." Lupin replied, smiling at her.

She seen Lily approaching her and she said, "Have you done it?" Lily merely nodded. "We have to go." Tonks hurried Lily out of the dormitory.

"What did he say?" Tonks asked.

She groaned and replied. "He said yes, this is going to be the worst night of my life."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad." Tonks replied.

They entered the girls' dormitory to see Claire and Sarah eagerly waiting for them to return.

"What did he say?" They both asked in unison.

"He said yes." Lily groaned.

"Anyways, back to the game. Lily it's your go."

"Tonks," She said through gritted teeth, eager to get her revenge. "Truth or dare?"

Tonks thought for a minute and said. "Dare." From the minute she had picked it, she instantly regretted it.

"I dare you, to ask Lupin to the Ball."

"Oh, how original." She joked. "Coming then?"

'Just ask him then leave, it's simple really. But what happens if he says no? Things will never be the same again. Come on Tonks! Calm down, just knock on the door.' her thoughts were running through her head, and before they knew it they were outside the boys' dormitory.

Lily knocked on the door and entered. Tonks had just noticed that there was clothes everywhere, and the room was really messy compared to the girls.

"Couldn't wait until tomorrow, huh Evans?" James said.

"No, actually Tonks wanted to ask Remus something." Lily said, kicking James.

"Can we go outside?" she asked, not wanting to ask him in front of everybody.

He nodded and put down his book, she held the door open for him and he walked out onto the staircase. She shut the door behind her.

"I was wondering, are you going with anyone to the Ball?" She asked, trying to get rid of her nerves.

"No." He replied, smiling softly at her.

"Are you actually going to go?"

"Yeah. James and Sirius will be there, so it'll be a laugh.

"Oh. Um, that's good. I was wondering, would you maybe want to go with me?" She said, her face turning pink.

"I would love to." He replied, a grin spreading across his face.

"Good, I daresay I'll see you before the Ball tomorrow night, just so you know, this was a dare. But I was glad they dared me to do it." Said Tonks, a smile spreading across her face.

"I'm glad they dared you too. See you tomorrow Dora." said Lupin, and he walked back into the boys' dormitory.

"Bye Loopy."

Tonks stood outside for a few seconds, before she ran back into the boys' dormitory, wrapped her arms around Lupin's neck and kissed him full on the mouth. He wrapped his arms around her waist happily returned the kiss. She heard Lily squeal, and she heard James and Sirius wolf whistle. She ended the kiss and said. "That wasn't a dare." She grabbed Lily's arm and they ran out of the boys' dormitory.

"I take it he said yes then." Lily said, once they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

"He said yes!" She squealed, unable to believe it.

"They walked back to the girls' dormitory to find Claire and Sarah fast asleep.

"I guess getting the room ready really tired them out." said Lily.

She and Tonks both got into their sleeping bags, and Tonks had never fell asleep so happy.


	7. Chapter 7: The Christmas Ball

**Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I went back to school this week so I've been quite busy. This is my longest chapter so far. Hope you enjoy it:) **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter and Aly & AJ own the song Chemical's React.**

* * *

Tonks opened her eyes and saw it was still dark. She climbed out of her sleeping bag and walked down the spiral stairs to see the Common Room completely deserted. She glanced at her watch and saw it was three in the morning. Tonks wondered why she had woken up so early, she was unable to sleep only if she had something to remember. She thought about today's date, December sixteenth. Then it hit her. Oliver. Tears fell down her face, but she was interrupted by a boy coming down the stairs.

"What are you doing up so late?" Lupin asked her, sitting beside her.

"Couldn't sleep." she quietly replied, more tears spilling down her face.

"Are you alright?" he asked, noticing she was crying.

She weakly shook her head, and she let out a stifled sob. He wrapped an arm around her.

"What's wrong Dora?" he asked softly.

"T-today is the two year anniversary of my brother Oliver's death. He was o-only ten. We were walking along a river that was frozen over with ice. The ice b-broke and he d-drowned. I get him out. I-it was all my fault." She started to sob.

"Shh, it's alright. Dora, listen to me. It wasn't your fault. You tried to save him, you tried everything you could. You can't go through life blaming yourself, he wouldn't want you to do that."

"B-but it was my fault! Because of me, he never got to go to Hogwarts or make any friends his age. Oliver drowned because I couldn't pull him out!" She put her head in her hands, sobs wracking her whole body. "I just m-miss him so much. He was my f-first best friend."

Lupin pulled her close to him and let her cry. She cried for a solid hour, but exhaustion took its toll and she eventually fell asleep. He stayed with her on the sofa, keeping her safe in his arms.

She was floating in the water, watching her brother happily walking along the ice, then it all happened too fast. There was a crunching noise, then a crack and before she knew it, the ice beneath her brother had buckled. He plummeted into the freezing water, she was running over to him and screaming, "Oliver!" over and over again. The scene was changing and soon they were in Hogwarts.

"Nymphadora." a child's voice said.

"Oliver?" she asked, trying to find the voice.

"Yes, it's me. I need you to listen. No matter how many times you tell yourself it was your fault, it truly wasn't. Your friend Remus is right. I need you to do something for me Nymphadora, be happy. Whenever it is December sixteenth, don't cry because I have died. Smile because I lived. Don't think of me and be sad, because Nymphadora, I'm always with you."

A boy emerged from thin air, his short green hair sticking up. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Tonks ran over to him and tightly hugged him.

"I miss you." she whispered to him.

"I'm always here Nymphadora." he replied.

"You always were the only person I would allow to call me Nymphadora." she replied, letting go of him.

He smiled at her and said, "You'll always be Nymphadora to me. It's time for you to go though. Goodbye Nymphadora." before she could say anything, he was gone.

Her eyes sprang open and she saw she was back in the Common Room, warm arms were encircled around her. She looked up and saw Lupin looking at her kindly. It was all just a dream.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You fell asleep from crying so much. Are you alright? You don't look so well."

"I'm okay. I dreamt about him. I mean I always dream about him this time of year, except it wasn't the same nightmare. He told me the exact same as you did, that it wasn't my fault. So if it wasn't my fault, why do I feel so bad all the time?" she said, her voice cracking.

"Dora, you couldn't help the ice breaking, you need to stop blaming yourself or else it's going to tear you apart." he said softly.

"He told me to be happy." she replied, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

"He sounds like a smart person." Lupin replied.

"Loopy, you're the only person I've told, and I kind of want to keep it that way." she said quietly.

"Your secret is safe with me." he replied.

"I'd better get back upstairs." Tonks said, standing up. She gave him a hug and whispered, "Thank you." before hurrying back upstairs in the girls' dormitory. She lay in her sleeping bag, but she didn't sleep, she just stared at the ceiling, her mind blank. Eventually, the sun started to flood the room with light. She saw Lily stir and soon she opened her eyes.

"Morning Tonks." she said sleepily.

"Morning." she replied. "Should we wake them up?" she asked, pointing at the two blonde haired girls sleeping.

"Nah, we'll just leave them. Do you want to go for some breakfast?"

"Yeah, I need to take a shower though." Tonks hurried to the bathroom and she showered. Changed her hair colour to brown and managed to add green streaks into it. 'For Oliver.' she thought to herself. She soon emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed and feeling a lot better.

"Ready to go?" asked Lily, whilst she was zipping her coat up.

"Yeah, lets go. I'm starving." Tonks and Lily walked down the Great Hall, both sitting down on the Gryffindor table. James came and sat down next to Lily, Sirius sat in between the two girls and Remus sat down on the other side of Tonks.

"Morning my Lily flower!" James said enthusiastically.

"Morning…James." she replied kindly and his jaw dropped.

"Y-you called me James?" he said, shocked.

"Yes I did. But don't get used to it!" she cried, giving him a small smile.

She looked back at Lupin who was eating a piece of toast.

"Are you alright?" he asked, taking a drink of pumpkin juice.

"I feel better thanks." she replied.

Tonks looked back at Lily and saw her laughing and smiling.

"I'm glad." Lupin said, taking her hand and giving it a quick squeeze.

"Hey Lillies, Tonks!" Sirius said. "Fancy going for a walk around the grounds with us?"

"Okay." Tonks replied. After Lily agreed, the five of them walked out into the white snow. She was enjoying herself until they reached the lake. It was frozen over with ice, just like the on she and Oliver had been walking on the day he drowned. She started to fidget uncomfortably, wishing she was anywhere but there. Lupin noticed this, so he took a hold of her hand.

"It's okay." he whispered softly in her ear. This calmed her down a bit.

"Can we go back to the castle?" she asked, fearing she would burst into tears any moment.

"Hey you lot," Lupin said. "I'm freezing. Can we go back into the castle?"

"Yeah, come on James." Lily said, wrapping her coat around her more tightly.

James happily followed Lily, and Sirius followed James. Tonks held Lupin back for a minute.

"Thank you." she said to him. "Thank you for everything." she quickly kissed him on the cheek and they walked back up to the castle in silence.

The five of them entered the Gryffindor Common Room, ready for the fire to engulf them in warmth. They had all just entered through the portrait when Claire and Sarah ran up to Tonks and Lily, their blonde hair billowing beneath them.

"Where have you two been? We have the whole day planned!" Sarah said, grabbing Tonks's arm and pulling her upstairs. Claire grabbed Lily's arm and began to pull her upstairs also.

"I guess I'll see you later." Tonks said to Lupin, half-jogging to keep up with Sarah.

She didn't hear his reply, because she was already in the girls dormitory.

"Right girls!" Claire said cheerfully. "This afternoon is going to be us pampering ourselves, then tonight we are going to have the best time ever!"

"Okay Claire." Lily said. "How many sweets have you had today?"

"Two," she said innocently before adding. "dozen."

They all burst into a fit of giggles and it took them a few minutes to regain their composure.

"Tonks?" Sarah asked. "Why do you have green in your hair?"

'Oh no, what am I going to say?' she thought to herself. 'I could tell them the truth. I mean, I can trust them can't I?" she thought for a moment and decided to tell them.

"I have green in my hair because it was my brothers favourite colour." she said, before continuing. "He passed away two years ago today." she finished, her face crumpling.

Lily gasped, walked over to her and hugged her. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm okay, it just takes time." she said quietly. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry though." the room stayed silent for a moment. "So, what are we doing first?" Tonks asked, trying to change the subject.

"Facials!" Claire cried happily, trying to lighten the mood.

Tonks and Lily tied their hair up, knowing this would get messy. She felt green substance being rubbed onto her face. It was cold and lumpy, but amazingly it was calming her down. Two owls then tapped on the window, so Lily let them in. A snowy white one flew to Lily, and a brown one flow over to Tonks. She removed the letter from the owls leg, but she didn't recognise the handwriting. She looked over to Lily and saw her reading her letter, her facial expression was half-amused and half-annoyed.

"Who's it from?" Claire asked Lily.

"Who do you think?" Lily said sarcastically.

"James." Tonks replied, before looking at her own letter.

__

Dear Dora,

James, Sirius and I were sitting in the boys' dormitory very bored when James had the urge to write Lily a letter. So I decided I would do the same for you. I never got to say goodbye to you Common Room. Also I wanted to tripled check you were okay.

Your friend

Remus 'Loopy' Lupin.

She smiled at his letter before picking up a piece of parchment and dipping a quill into some ink.

Dear Loopy,

It was very sweet of you to write a letter to me, and I swear that I am absolutely fine. It's hard to believe that's it's the Ball tonight isn't it? So much has happened in a week. Which brings me to my next point, where will I meet you tonight?

Dora x

P.S. Must we use last names? It makes me feel like I barely know you.

"Tonks, who's is yours from?" Sarah asked, whilst Claire was reading Lily's letter.

"Remus." Lily answered for her.

"Oooh!" Sarah exclaimed. "Did she do her dare? What did he say? Me and Claire fell asleep and I completely forgot."

"She did it." Lily said. "He said yes and she kissed him!" Lily squealed.

Claire and Sarah squealed along with Lily and soon Tonks felt herself blush.

"Yeah well, you seemed to have warmed up to James Potter." Tonks replied, and Lily's face turned bright red.

"Can I see your letter from Remus?" Lily asked.

"Only if I can see James's." Tonks replied.

The two girls exchanged letters and Lily's letter read:

My Dearest Lily Flower,

I am sitting in the boys' dormitory with Sirius and Remus, bored to death, so I decided to write a letter to the girl of my dreams. How are you? I am acstatic that you asked me to go to the Ball with you. I will see you tonight then Lillies!

Yours forever,

James Potter

"Aww! That's so sweet!" Tonks exclaimed, handing the letter back to Lily. Her face turned bright red.

Tonks and Lily attached their letters back onto the owls, and they glided out of the window.

"Right!" Sarah said enthusiastically. "It's time to paint our nails!"

She brought out a rainbow of different coloured nail polish. Considering her dress was pink, Tonks painted her nails a bright pink, coated with a clear glitter nail polish. The owls flew back through the window and landed its self on Tonks's head.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed. "Get off me!" The owl flew off her head and swooped down onto her arm. She took the letter off of its leg and fed it a leftover sweet from the previous night.

Dear Dora,

I'm glad that you are okay. I think that Sirius, James and I are meeting you and Lily in the Common Room at half seven. I have no idea who Sirius is going with. Consider this though, you will get to see me in dress robes, which doesn't happen very often. MOONY LOVES TONKS! Sorry, that was Sirius, he's like a hyper-active monkey sometimes. I'm glad you asked me to go. So I guess I'll see you tonight!

Loopy.

P.S. I stopped using last names.

Tonks picked up another piece of parchment, and re-dipped her quill into the ink again.

Loopy,

I cannot wait to see you in dress robes. You will get to see me in a dress, which REALLY doesn't happen very often. Tell Sirius that I will make him into a depressed monkey if he annoys me. I'm glad I asked you to go too. Half seven sounds great. I'll see you later!

Dora x

P.S. I did notice that you didn't use your last name, I'm very proud.

She once again attached the letter to the owls leg and it flew out of the window and into the clear blue sky. Her nails were dry, and the sun was slowing starting to drop.

"Lily?" Tonks asked. "What time is it?"

"Oh God!" Lily exclaimed. "It's half six!"

Claire and Sarah started to panic, as they only had an hour to get ready. They raced each other to the bathroom, Claire being much faster than Sarah, beat her to it.

"You'd better hurry up!" Sarah cried in a shrilly voice.

"I'll take as long as I take!" Claire replied, and the room was drowned with the sound of water.

"Come on, the boys might let us use their bathroom." Lily said gathering her dress and shoes, and some make-up. Tonks grabbed all of her stuff and they walked downstairs. The boys' dormitory was familiar to her, after knocking on the door she pushed it open. The three of them were sitting in the boys' dormitory just lazing about. Clothes were drawn out across the room.

"Are you lot not getting ready yet?!" Lily asked, taking a firmer grasp on her dress.

"I usually wait until the last minute. That's what makes my hair look so messy." James replied, smirking.

"Can we use your bathroom?" Lily asked. "Ours is full."

"Anything for you Lily my sweet. I still can't believe you asked me to the Ball." James replied, a smile spreading across his face.

"It was a dare." Lily replied, and she walked into the bathroom. A few minutes later they heard a clatter and Lily shouting "Ouch!"

"Lily?" Tonks asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just dropped something." she replied through the bathroom door.

"Good." Tonks said. "You can hurry up then!"

"I won't be long!" she replied.

Tonks turned her attention back to James and Sirius, who were looking at something.

"What are you looking at?" Tonks asked, because James was grinning like a maniac.

"A picture of my love Lily." He replied, his face turning red.

"If she ever finds out that you have that, she'll kill you." Tonks replied.

"Well it's a good thing that she won't find out." James replied, a mischievous grin spreading across the face.

"Can I see your dress, dearest cousin of mine?" Sirius asked.

"Unless you want to wear it, no." Tonks replied sarcastically. "Anyways, who are you going with?"

"I can't tell you, it's a secret." Sirius replied.

"That either means that the person he's going with doesn't know yet, or that he actually had no one to go with." Lupin said, Tonks was holding back the urge to laugh.

"Just because I said you could take my cousin to the Ball doesn't mean I can't withdraw my permission." Sirius snapped.

"I don't remember you giving me permission!" Tonks shouted, her hair turning red. Before Sirius could reply Lily walked out of the bathroom a cloak wrapped tightly around herself so that no one could see her dress.

"Bathrooms free." Lily said to Tonks, who hurried through the door and shut it with a slam. Just like the bedroom, there was clothes everywhere.

"You really should up the clothes off of the floor!" Tonks shouted through the bathroom door.

"We don't clean!" James cried in reply.

Tonks slipped into her dress, but quickly realised that the zipper was stuck.

"Lily!" she shouted. "Can you come and help me a minute?"

"Yeah, hang on!" Lily replied, and Tonks heard the bathroom door click open.

"Zippers stuck." Tonks said to her, but Lily had it up in seconds. "Thanks." she said gratefully.

"No problem. Can I stay in here while you get ready? I don't want to back in there on my own." Lily said.

"Yeah, course you can." Tonks replied.

"Good." Lily pulled off her cloak and revealed a cream dress shimmering in the light. Her fingernails were painted a light gold and her hair was tied up with a few curls hanging down. She sat on the edge of the bath carefully, not wanting to wrinkle her dress.

"Lily, you look really pretty." Tonks said.

"Thanks. You'd better hurry up! It's already ten to seven and I think that Sarah and Claire want to get pictures of all four of us before we go." Lily said, smiling at her.

Tonks continued getting ready. She applied a thin amount of pink eye shadow, her eyes were lined with kohl eyeliner. She put a small amount of lip gloss on, she didn't like lipstick. Then she started to experiment with her hair. She tried black, then brown, but she finally settled on blonde. Wanting to make it look more exciting, she concentrating really hard and managed to make it blonde with pink highlights so that it matched her dress. She muttered a spell that made her hair straight and shiny. She slipped on her pink shoes.

"Wow." Lily said, taking a look at Tonks. "You looked beautiful."

"Thanks Lily." She said, but then she started to feel nervous. "What happens if he doesn't like it?" she asked, starting to panic.

"Tonks." she said softly. "You're being silly. Of course he'll like you. If you want to make sure, we can even get a boy's opinion." she opened the door and cried. "Sirius! Come here a minute!" he reluctantly walked to the door and walked into the bathroom. "Tonks is panicking, she thinks Remus won't like her."

"Tonks." he said. "Remus would be an idiot if he didn't like you. But the good thing is, I know Remus and he isn't an idiot. You look beautiful."

"T-thanks." she managed to stutter out.

"Come on Tonks. Claire and Sarah will be wondering where we are." Lily said, and she wrapped her cloak around her.

"Oh no! I forgot to bring a cloak or something. He's going to see me!" Tonks cried, throwing her hands in the air.

"Hang on." Sirius said. "You can borrow one of my robes." he ran out of the bathroom and returned seconds later with a cloak that was far too big for her.

"Thanks Sirius," she said. "I'll give it back to you later."

"You'd better." he said jokingly, and the girls left the bathroom and hurried out of the boys' dormitory. They returned to the girls' dormitory seconds later, Claire and Sarah appeared to be ready. Claire was wearing a turquoise dress, her hair was pinned up and her shoes were sliver high heels. Sarah however was wearing a deep purple dress, her curly blonde hair went down to her shoulders, and she had flat purple shoes on.

"Tonks! Lily!" they squealed in unison. "You both look beautiful!"

"Thanks." Lily replied, a smile spreading across her face. "You both look great!"

"Okay everyone, gather round! Picture time!" Sarah said, producing a camera.

Claire, Sarah, Lily and Tonks grouped into a line and they got another girl to take a picture of the four of them.

"I'll make copies." Sarah said. "I'm taking this with me tonight." she gestured towards the camera.

"Who are you going with again?" Tonks asked Claire.

"It's a secret." Claire replied.

"You're just like Sirius." Tonks said, rolling her eyes. "Wait a minute…Are you going with him?!" Tonks asked.

Claire's face turned bright red. "No…Maybe…Yes." she confessed.

Tonks just laughed. "I think we should go downstairs, it's twenty-five to eight."

The girls all smiled and walked down the stairs. They saw three boys at the bottom of the stairs, all wearing dress robes. Tonks looked at Remus, he was wearing black dress robes and a white bow tie, his hair was still its same sandy brown. He saw Tonks walking down the stairs, and she swore that she seen his jaw drop a tiny bit. She smiled at herself and reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Tonks! Lillies! Sarah! You all look great!" Sirius said cheerfully, who was wearing black dress robes like Lupin. "Claire." he whispered, looking at the blonde. "You look beautiful."

"When Sirius is done drooling over Claire, do you think we should go downstairs?" Lupin said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "By the way Dora, you look amazing." Tonks felt herself blushing.

"So do you." she replied. "I'm glad that I got to see you in dress robes."

He smiled at her, and she looked over to James, who was babbling like a monkey. All Tonks could make out was, "Lily…look…amazing…wow!" she started to laugh at him, James Potter was nervous.

"I want pictures!" Sarah cried, standing next to the boy she was going with. Tonks didn't know his name.

Lupin, James and Sirius stood next to each other and Tonks stood in front of Lupin who surprisingly, put his hands on her waist. She felt herself turn dark red. Lily stood next to James and took a hold of his hand, and one of the biggest smiles spread across his face. Claire stood next to Sirius, her arm around his waist, and his around hers. They all smiled and soon Tonks heard a 'click!' and then a flash of white light came from the camera.

"We'd better get going." Lily said, and the four couples made their way to the Great Hall.

"Last chance to back out of this." Tonks whispered to Lupin. "You don't have to go with me."

"I don't want to go with anyone else." he said, and she took his hand.

They entered the Great Hall and Tonks gasped. It was beautiful. Everything was white, there was enormous Christmas trees everywhere. The enchanted ceiling had been bewitched to look like it was snowing indoors. There was tables grouped all around the Hall, and a stage for the performers.

"Wow." Tonks stammered. "It's beautiful."

"It is isn't it?" Lupin replied.

"Good evening students!" their headmaster Albus Dumbledore said cheerfully. "I'm please to welcome you to our annual Christmas Ball once again! However, this year is slightly different. If you would like too, you can participate in our karaoke. With that, I wish you all a good evening!" Dumbledore finished and music filled the hall. Before she knew it, Lupin and her were sweeping across the dance floor.

"Loopy." Tonks said, both of them still moving across the dance floor. "What made you say yes when I asked you to the ball?"

"I just knew that you were different to the other girls, and I guessed I liked you." Lupin replied, his eyes shining. "You don't care what anyone thinks. Or at least you don't show it."

"I try not to." she replied, looking into his eyes with such intensity. They moved in circles, their eyes stuck in this trance for what felt like hours, when Lily came and tapped Tonks on the shoulder.

"Tonks, can I speak to you a minute?" Lily asked, sounding panicky.

"Yeah, of course you can. I'll be back in a few minutes, why don't you go and see James and Sirius. I'll meet you over there." she said to Lupin, he smiled and nodded and went to join his friends.

"What's that matter?" Tonks asked.

"I'm falling for him! I'm not supposed to fall for him! He's an arrogant, conceited, git. What am I going to do?" she said, looking on the verge of tears.

"Whoa! Calm down. First of all, what's wrong with you liking him? And second, we're going to do the karaoke." Tonks said coolly.

"What's is wrong with me liking him?" Lily asked herself. "I mean, I've always said that I've hated him, but once you get to know him he's really sweet and kind. He was so nervous before. I didn't think he could be like that." Lily said quietly. "And we're WHAT?! No way am I doing karaoke."

"Please. I think it might be fun. You can pick the song, as long as I know the words." Tonks said, trying to convince Lily.

"Fine." she huffed, giving in. "But if I get laughed at Nymphadora Tonks, I swear I will kill you."

"If you get laughed at Lily Evans, you may kill me. I doubt that will happen though, you're much better at singing than me. Come on, we need to put our names down."

They walked over to the stage and told Professor Dumbledore that they would like to put their names down for the karaoke, then they walked back to James and the others.

"What were you doing?" Lupin asked, handing Tonks a Butterbeer.

"You'll find out soon enough Loopy." she said, sticking her tongue out at him cheekily. He chuckled at her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Lily noticed this and smiled at Tonks.

"Lily." Tonks said. "We'd better go."

"Right. James I'll be back soon." Lily said to him, giving him a smile.

"W-where are you going?" he asked.

"Just to do something." Lily replied.

Camilla was currently on the stage singing, and Tonks thought that she sounded ghastly, but apparently so did the rest of the room. Her white dress matched her skin and she almost looked like a ghost. Tonks couldn't have been happier when she finished singing.

"Next is Lily Evans and Nymphadora Tonks!" Dumbledore announced giddily.

They walked up to the stage and grabbed a microphone each. The music started to play and Lily started to sing.

You make me feel out of my element,  
Like I'm walking on broken glass.  
Like my worlds spinning in slow motion.  
And I'm moving too fast

Lily stopped singing, so Tonks carried on

_Were you right, was I wrong  
Were you weak, was I strong, yeah  
Both of us broken  
Caught in the moment  
We lived and we loved  
And we hurt and we joked, yeah  
But the planets all aligned  
When you looked into my eyes  
And just like that  
The chemicals react  
The chemicals react_

Lily joined in with Tonks, and soon the audience was applauding and it seemed like they wanted more. Tonks looked a Lupin who was smiling at her, he looked proud. She felt happy, she was glad that she had met him.

_You make me feel out of my element  
Like I'm drifting out to the sea  
Like the tides pulling me in deeper  
__Making it harder to breathe_

Tonks sang slight higher than Lily on this part, so it sounded like a harmony.

_We cannot deny, how we feel inside  
We cannot deny_

_Were you right, was I wrong  
Were you weak, was I strong, yeah  
Both of us broken  
Caught in the moment  
We lived and we loved  
And we hurt and we joked, yeah  
But the planets all aligned  
When you looked into my eyes  
And just like that  
The chemicals react  
The chemicals react_

Lily suddenly stopped, and it seemed that Tonks was doing a solo.

_Kaleidoscope of colours  
Turning hopes on fire, sun is burning  
Shining down on both of us  
Don't let us lose it_

_Were you right, was I wrong  
Were you weak, was I strong, yeah  
Both of us broken  
Caught in the moment  
We lived and we loved  
And we hurt and we joked, yeah_

Lily sang a line, then Tonks sang a line until they had finished the sequence.

_We lived  
We loved  
We hurt  
We joked  
We're right  
We're wrong  
We're weak  
We're strong  
We lived to love_

They both sang the last part with all their hearts, the pupils of Hogwarts clapping like crazy.

_But the planets all aligned  
When you looked into my eyes  
And just like that  
Watch the chemicals react  
And just like that  
The chemicals react_

The two of them finished singing and the Hall was filled with a thunderous noise of people applauding.

"I can't believe we just did that!" Lily squealed, giving Tonks a hug. "I haven't done anything that fun in years! Thanks Tonks."

"Don't mention it." she replied to her, and Tonks walked over to Lupin.

"I can't believe I just did that." she whispered to him, she couldn't stop smiling.

"You were fantastic! You must get your talents from me." Sirius said, smiling at himself.

"What talents?" Tonks asked, trying to stop herself from bursting out laughing.

"You know! Talents. I just haven't discovered them yet." he replied, and Tonks burst out laughing.

"You really were fantastic." Lupin said to her, giving her a hug.

"Thanks. I dunno what made me do it." Tonks said.

"You could always do it. Apparently Camilla is fuming because you did better than her." Lupin said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Do you know what? I don't even care." Tonks replied, adrenaline still pumping through her.

"That's the spirit." he replied.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom a minute, I'll be back soon, okay?" Tonks said, getting up and leaving the Great Hall so she could use the girls' toilets.

The stairs were lit up, and mini Christmas tress were placed everywhere in the Grand Staircase. She was humming to herself when she felt cold hands pin her up against the wall. One of the hands hit her in the face, she felt blood trickling from her nose. A foot hit her hard in the stomach, and she doubled over in pain. Their wand was placed firmly against her head, and she felt the hands encircling around her throat. All of her breath was being crushed out of her, she felt like she was dying. Her eyes kepy closing and opening, she was slowly losing consciousness. She was kicked in the stomach once again and she crippled over in pain. Her attacker continued to kick her repeatedly. Remus would wonder where she was, he would surely come looking for her. She had to stay awake for him, he was keeping her going. She feebly tried to fight back, but ended up punching the thin air.

"Oi!" she heard someone shout, and she recongised the voice as Sirius. The kicking had stopped and soon she saw that Sirius and James were tackling the boy, she knew who it was. Tears started to fall from her eyes. Camilla had sent her boyfriend to beat her up again, she was honestly trying to kill her. They had knocked the boy unconcisous and moved him.

"Tonks." Sirius said worriedly. "Tonks, speak to me."

"S-Sirius." she managed to croak weakly.

"You need the Hospital Wing." he said quietly, but she shook her head.

"No, don't make me go. Please." she begged. "Hospitals scare me."

"I can't make you." he said. "James, go and get Remus and Lily, I know they'll want to see her."

James nodded his head and ran back to the Great Hall.

"Who knew you could be so responsible." Tonks replied sarcastically.

"I didn't know I could be that responsible." Sirius admitted, helping her sit up. "Are you okay? No broken bones or anything?"

"Just a nosebleed. I think I'll live." she replied.

James reappeared with Lily and Remus closely behind him. Lily looked like she was crying, and Lupin face was a deathly white.

"Tonks." he said quietly.

"Before you say anything, don't you dare blame yourself." she said quietly, but he heard her.

"How can I not blame myself, look what's happened to you." he replied.

"I am going to kill Camilla." Lily said, hear eyes glistening with tears.

"Can I just go back to your Common Room?" Tonks asked.

"But you need to go the the Hospital Wing Dora." Lupin said softly.

"I've already told Sirius, I'm not going. I just want to go back upstairs." she said weakly. "Please." she said pleadingly. He nodded.

"James." Lily said quietly. "I'm going to go with her."

"We'll all go!" James said cheerfully, trying to cheer everyone up.

Tonks stood up, but her legs immeadiately buckled. She groaned in pain. Lupin scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the Gryffindor Common Room. He layed her down on the sofa.

"You scared me back then Dora. He could have killed you." he said quietly.

"I'm fine Loopy. Just a bit of blood." she said, grasping his hand.

"But it could have been worse if Sirius and James hadn't seen him hurting you. I should have went with you."

"To the girls' toilets?" she said jokingly. "Can you imagined what would have happened if another girl had walked in." she started to laugh. "Lily, I'm sorry. I've ruined the rest of the Ball for you, James and Sirius too. I feel really bad."

"Don't apologise." Lily said, sitting with James. "It wasn't your fault."

She gave her a small smile. She looked at her dress and felt saddened. It was ruined, covered in blood. Even if she did manage to get the blood off it would remind her of the time she was attacked and nearly killed. Tears pricked her eyes. Why did Camilla want her to be hurt so bad? She had never done anything to her. The tears rolled down her face and soon, her face was soaked with her tears of anger and hurt.

She felt warm arms wrapping themselves around her. She knew who it was. She just lay there and cried, knowing that she wouldn't have to explain why she was upset. It was like he knew.

"Dora." he said softly. "It's okay, you're safe."

Her eyes started to droop, and soon she felt her head being put onto the pillow and a jacket being placed on her. He was right, she was safe.

* * *

**So, what do you think? 11 or 12 pages on my Word Document. R&R Please:)**


	8. Chapter 8: Christmas Cards And New Love

**Last Chapter folks! I'm sad that I've finished it, but liberated at the same time. Please forgive any grammar or spelling mistakes. Reviews are love. :)**

**Oh, and I changed my penname from Hermione Jean Granger to Nymphadora Lupin-Tonks, just thought I'd tell you to avoid any confusion. **

* * *

Hands tightened their grip around her throat. She tried to scream, she heard the noise she was producing, only no one else did. The same pain in the stomach hit her and she was on the floor crying in pain. No one was coming to help her, he produced a knife, she saw the silver glint in the candle light. She screamed as loud as she could, and this time it was heard.

"Dora." Lupin whispered softly. "It's okay. He's gone."

Her eyes shot open, and she was screaming hysterically. She saw Remus trying to calm her down, he pulled her close to him and she started to cry again, realising what could have happened. She saw Lily crying, and James and Sirius had just gone pale. Remus started to whisper comforting things into her ears, but she just started to cry harder.

"HE WAS GOING TO STAB ME!" she screamed. "HE WAS GOING TO K-KILL ME!"

Lily started to cry more, James had his arms around her.

"I think we should go to Dumbledore." Sirius said quietly.

Tonks started to thrash about, like she was in shock. Lupin and Sirius tried to restrain her but she overpowered them, people were rushing down the stairs and staring in shock, some of them screaming.

"HELP HER!" Lily screamed hysterically.

Lupin did the only thing he could think of. He picked her up and ran to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey was sitting in an armchair dozing off, but was alert and ready when she heard footsteps running into the room. She grabbed a potion and ran scurried over to Lupin, who was still holding Tonks in his arms as she wildly thrashed about. With great difficulty, Madam Pomfrey managed to get Tonks to drink a sleeping potion. She fell limp in his arms and he placed her onto a bed.

"You don't deserve this Dora, you really don't." he whispered to her softly, stroking her hand with his thumb.

He sat for a while, waiting for her to wake up. He was about to fall asleep when he heard someone walk in.

"Is she okay?" Sirius asked, pulling up an empty chair.

"I hope so. She shouldn't be here. I should have protected her." he said quietly.

"She's strong, she'll be alright." he replied, looking at the sleeping figure. "You really like her don't you?"

Lupin just nodded. "The first time I saw her, I felt something different. It was like she was part of me, even though I've only known her a week, I think I love her." he said firmly, smiling slightly.

"I know you do. I haven't seen you this happy in a long time." Sirius admitted. "You two are perfect for each other, you do know that."

"You just went all mushy on me." Remus said, startled by his friends sudden behaviour.

"Tell no one." he joked. "But you get my point."

"I do." he said. "But I could hurt her."

"How?" Sirius asked, confused.

"What would happen if she found out I was a werewolf, or she followed me to the shrieking shack. I could seriously hurt her!" he said, these doubts filling his mind.

"I can only think of one thing. Tell her the truth. Listen to me a minute." as Lupin had just opened his mouth to protest. "If you tell her, she'll know not to follow you. She deserves to know the truth Moony." Sirius said, he said goodbye to his friend and walked out of the Hospital Wing. " he said seriously.

"I suppose you're right Padfoot, I'll tell her when she wakes up."

"We still need to go to Dumbledore, she can't get away with this." Sirius said.

"When she wakes up." he said softly.

"I'm going to go and see James and Lily, she was in a bit of a state before. Come and find me when she wakes up." said Sirius, and he left a few minutes later.

"Get well soon Dora." he whispered, kissing her forehead.

He looked at her, her face look tired, he could see bruises forming on her neck, and her dress was covered in blood. But he still thought she looked beautiful. Her hand was warm and smooth, he fell asleep at the side of her bed, never letting go of her hand.

She slowly opened her eyes and found herself in the Hospital Wing. The one place she didn't want to be in. Something warm was holding onto her hand, she looked down and saw Remus Lupin holding her hand, he was fast asleep. A warmth spread through her, and she gently shook him awake.

"Loopy." she whispered softly.

He opened his eyes. "Dora." he said, still half asleep. He sat up and hugged her. "I need to tell you something."

He was about to tell her when Madam Pomfrey bustled out of her office and rushed over to Tonks.

"Good, you're awake. You were in shock last night, I cleaned up your bloody nose, but you still have some bruising that should heal in a few days."

"When can I leave?" Tonks asked simply.

"Today," Madam Pomfrey replied.

"So Loopy, what did you want to tell me?" she asked .

"We need to go to Dumbledore," he said, smiling at her.

She merely nodded her head, she didn't have the willpower to argue.

"Can we go now then? I just want to get it over with." she said.

Lupin nodded at her. "We need to find James and Sirius, and Lily first."

Tonks discharged herself from the Hospital Wing and she and Lupin went to find Lily, James and Sirius. She found them all in the library.

"I don't believe it. James Potter and Sirius Black are in the library!" she said sarcastically.

"I can't either." Sirius mumbled.

"We're going to go to Dumbledore." Lupin said flatly. "We need you three to come with us."

"Of course we'll come, I'm not letting that toe rag get away with what he did to Tonks." Sirius said James and Lily nodded their heads in agreement.

They all walked silently to Dumbledore's office. It was as though he had been expecting them because he appeared at the entrance to his office.

"Ah, Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Lupin, Miss Evans and Miss Tonks! I was wondering when you would show up. Follow me please." Dumbledore said, and they walked to his office. They all took a seat, Lupin sat next to Tonks and held her hand reassuringly.

"P-professor." she began. "Last night I was attacked going to the girls' bathroom. I-I think I know who it was."

"I know Nymphadora." Dumbledore said. "Your attacker, Derek Coppergate was expelled this morning. His parents came and collected him this morning. Before he was expelled though we did find out that Camilla Stevens had planned the attack, she has been suspended. Lucky Mr Potter and Mr Black had found you. I'm afraid to say that they rendered a student unconscious, so you will both have to serve three weeks detention."

"But that's not fair!" Tonks cried. "They were only helping me!"

"I know Nymphadora, but rules are rules." Dumbledore said flatly.

"It's alright Tonks, we'll go quietly." James said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry." she said quietly.

"Don't be." Sirius said, smiling at his cousin.

"I would like to congratulate Miss Evans and Miss Tonks though. Your karaoke performance was fantastic. I managed to get a picture, but I copied it so you could both have one each." Dumbledore handed them both a picture. Tonks looked at it and saw her wearing what she was wearing at the present time. Her pink dress. Beside her was Lily, and they were both singing, both smiling. Tonks reminded herself that she would buy a photo album.

"Thank you professor." she said gratefully, at least she had one happy memory from last night.

"Your welcome, you may leave." he said quickly, and the five teenagers left Dumbledore's office.

"Well, everything turned out okay then!" Sirius said cheerfully. "I say we go to the kitchens for a celebration!"

"I second that!" said James.

"I third that." Lily said quietly, and James gasped.

"Finally warming up to me, aren't you Lily dearest?" James said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Don't flatter yourself." she said, and she playfully hit him on the shoulder.

"Are you two lovebirds coming?" Sirius asked, pointing at Tonks and Lupin.

"Actually I was wondering if I could talk to Dora in private for a while." Lupin said, looking at Tonks.

"Okay," she replied. "We'll come to the kitchens later, okay?"

They nodded at her and the three of them walked to the kitchens, leaving Tonks and Lupin alone.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about Loopy?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Can we go for a walk first?" he asked.

"Yeah, okay." she replied, and they both walked out into the Hogwarts grounds.

They saw a tree near the lake, and they both sat down on it, leaning against the trunk of it. Tonks winced slightly, the bruises on her ribs hurting.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked again.

"I have something to tell you." he said, sounding uneasy. "Actually, two things."

"In your own time." Tonks said sarcastically.

"This is serious Dora. I don't know how you're going to take it." he said quietly.

"What is it Loopy?" she asked, fear filling her.

"I-I'm a werewolf." he said. "I wanted to tell because, I l-love you Nymphadora Tonks."

"Y-you love me?" she managed to stutter out after a few minutes of silence. She couldn't believe it, she had never been this happy.

"I know I've only known you a week, but I know that I love you." he said. "Did you not hear the first part, I'm a werewolf."

"You're a werewolf." she said flatly.

"Yeah, I'm a werewolf." he said for the third time.

"I don't care," she replied, taking his hand. "And I-I think I love you too."

"Y-You don't care that I'm a werewolf?" he said, slightly shocked.

"To me, you're human. Can I just ask though, how did you become a werewolf?"

"Fenrir Greyback bit me when I was little. I've been a werewolf ever since." he said quietly.

"Loopy." she said softly, her voice slightly breaking. "I'm so sorry."

He looked at Tonks, and saw a tear down her face, her wiped it away with his thumb. "I've learnt to live with it."

"So every month do you transform?" she asked.

"Pretty much." he replied.

They say in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. They leaned against the tree, oblivious to the world, they only knew the happiness they were experiencing.

"Dora?" Lupin asked.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"I-I was wondering if you wanted to be my girlfriend?" Lupin asked, his voice slightly nervous.

Tonks felt like Christmas had come. "Any day." she replied softly.

His face was inches from hers, she felt his breath against her skin. He pressed his lips to hers, and she melted. He brought his hand to her cheek, and stayed like this for what felt like hours, but was minutes really. The kiss broke, and her cheeks were bright red.

"Do you want to go to the kitchens? They'll be wondering where we are." Lupin said.

"Sounds good. Can we go to the Hufflepuff Common Room so I can change please?" Tonks asked.

"Yeah, lets go." Lupin replied, and together they walked up to the castle, their hands joined together. The reached the Hufflepuff Common Room and Tonks ran up to the girls' dormitory and changed into a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved orange and grey t-shirt, considering she didn't have any more classes because tomorrow was her last day, she didn't bother putting her uniform on. She changed from her flat pink shoes, to a pair of silver flat shoes. She put her hair up into a bobble and ran back out of the Common Room, Remus was waiting outside for her. They continued their journey to the kitchens and when they approached the portrait, Lupin tickled the pear in the fruit bowl, which permitted them entrance.

"There you are!" Sirius cried cheerfully, food surrounded him.

"God you can't half eat." Tonks said, picking up a piece of chocolate. Lily burst into a fit of giggles.

"It motivates me. You see I stuff my face, then I work it off to keep my body looking as great as it does. See how that works?" he said sarcastically.

"I'm not even going to comment." Tonks laughed.

"Are you two together or something? Cause you're holding hands." James said, pointing at Tonks and Lupin.

"Of course they are." Lily answered. "You are, aren't you?"

Tonks nodded and Lily jumped up squealing, hugging Tonks. "This is great! You two are perfect for each other! I'm so happy for you both."

"Thanks Lily." Remus said, smiling.

"Yeah, that's great news mate." James said happily.

Sirius however, dropped the food he was eating, and his jaw dropped.

"Sirius? Hello? Earth to Sirius?" Tonks said, waving her hand in front of him.

He suddenly snapped back into reality, and a grin was forming on his face. "Good for you two. But Moony, if you hurt her, I know where you sleep." he said jokingly.

"I'm not planning on hurting her Padfoot." Lupin replied.

"I know you won't. This calls for another celebration!" Sirius said, opening a bottle of Butterbeer.

"It looks like you've already started one." Tonks said sarcastically.

She sat down next to Lupin and soon they all started to eat. Tonks ate to the point in which she thought she was going to burst.

"So, what are you doing for Christmas?" James asked Lily.

"Just the same as usual, quiet Christmas at home. What about you?" Lily replied.

"Moony and Sirius are staying at my house for the holidays." James said.

"My condolences to your parents." Lily joked.

"That hurt." James mocked, clutching his heart as if it had broke.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jamsie Wamsie." she replied, then doubled over in a fit of laughter.

"Please don't call me Jamsie Wamsie." he said, and then he started to tickle her.

"Noo! Please…Stop!" Lily replied, tears of laughter streaming down her face.

"I beginning to think that maybe them two have fallen for each other." Tonks said, whilst James continued tickling Lily.

"So do I, I mean James has always liked Lily, but I guess its taken her a long time to figure it out.." Lupin replied.

Just then, Sirius produced a camera from his pocket. "Mrs Potter asked us to take pictures throughout the year. So smile!" he shouted the last words like a five year old, he took a picture of Lupin and Tonks together.

"I want copies." Tonks said.

"Anything for you, _Nymphadora_." he said, emphasising the last part.

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" she shouted, throwing popcorn at him. "Give me that camera a minute."

Sirius reluctantly gave Tonks the camera. She looked through the eyepiece and got a picture of James and Lily, lying on the floor, laughing like maniacs. They only looked up when the saw the flash go off.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Lily protested.

"Life's not fair," Tonks said simply. "Anyways, I'm sure Mrs Potter would love to see a picture of James and his girlfriend." Tonks mocked.

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Lily said.

Before they could start to argue, Sirius interrupted and said. "Do you think we should go? It's getting pretty late."

"Wow, Sirius is being responsible." Lily said. "But I agree with him, it is getting pretty late."

"Let's go then, it's going to take me an hour to walk off all of the food I've eaten." Tonks said, and soon they were all trudging out of the kitchen and making their way up the stairs.

"Never…been…so…tired." Tonks said between breaths, and they were only halfway up the stairs.

"Do you want me to carry you on my back?" Lupin offered.

"Are you sure? I might be too heavy." Tonks replied.

"I doubt it." he replied, whilst she jumped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

She cheekily stuck her tongue out at Sirius, who looked like he was going to collapse.

"That's what you get for eating as much as you did." Tonks said to him.

"That's not fair Moony!" he wheezed. "I've been your friend longer! You've never once offered to carry me!"

"That's because I didn't fancy having back problems, and you're not my girlfriend." he replied sarcastically.

"If it would include a piggy back up the stairs, I'd be your girlfriend any day." Sirius said.

"I hope you didn't mean that." Tonks said, her skin colour changing to a pale green.

"Of course not, cousin of mine. Remus Lupin is all yours." Sirius said, still trudging up the stairs.

"Are you sure I'm not to heavy for you?" Tonks asked Lupin.

"I'm positive Dora." he replied softly.

"You'd better take me to the Hufflepuff Common Room. I haven't been there in a few days." Tonks said sadly. She loved Hufflepuff and all the prospects of it, but there was a great sense of loneliness whenever she went there, because she knew her friends were in a completely different Common Room.

"We're not that far, shouldn't take us long." he said.

They finally reached the Portrait which lead into the Hufflepuff Common Room.

"I guess I'll say goodnight here." Lupin said, as Tonks gently got off of his back.

"Yeah, I guess so. Could you tell Lily that I'll come and get my stuff tomorrow? Oh, and thanks for the piggy back." she said shyly, her heart was beating faster than it ever had before.

"I'll tell her, and don't mention it." he replied, leaning in closer, and closer, and closer, until he was millimetres away from her face. His kissed her, and she kissed him back. Her arms around his neck, and his around her waist. She never wanted to leave, she would have stayed like this all night but a Hufflepuff student tapped her very hard on the shoulder.

"Excuse me." the girl said quietly. "You're blocking the portrait."

"Oh, sorry." they both said, and they moved out of the way.

"I'd better head inside, I don't want a Prefect giving you a detention for being out late." Tonks said shyly. "Night Loopy." she give him a quick kiss and ran into the Hufflepuff Common Room.

She went into her room, and was flooded with girls wanting to congratulate her on the karaoke from the previous night. It was all like a daze, and the only person she could think about was Lupin. She slipped into bed and fell asleep in seconds.

The morning sunlight poured into the room, and in doing so woke a tired Tonks up. She rolled over, and pulled herself out of bed and did the normal morning routine. She jumped into the shower, the warm water cascading everywhere. Eventually, it woke her up. She dressed in a of jeans and a pink t-shirt. Considering it was the last day of school, she decided to make her hair pink. She put it up in a bobble and clipped her fringe up, but it was slightly raised, so it wasn't flat on her head. She decided to put on a pair of trainers, and after grabbing her jacket she went down to the Great Hall for some breakfast.

She saw Remus eating breakfast, be he hadn't noticed her, so she decided to surprise him. She crept up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder quickly. He almost jumped out of his seat.

"Tonks! You scared me!" he said, but he was smiling at her nonetheless.

"That was my plan." she joked, and sat down next to him, kissed his cheek and heard James and Sirius making vomiting noises into their breakfast. "Good morning to you too." she said quickly.

"I've lost my appetite." Sirius said dramatically.

"Good, because considering the amount you ate last night you shouldn't even to be able to think about food." Tonks snapped.

"I could never stop thinking about food, for it is my second love. Girls' are my first love." Sirius said.

"That makes me feel so loved, I thought I was your surrogate brother." James said sarcastically.

"You are loved Prongsie, but I can't snog you can I?" Sirius replied.

"You can't snog food either though." Tonks protested.

"You can in a certain way." Sirius replied, he looked serious.

"I don't even want to know." Tonks said. "Are you packed yet Loopy?" she asked, picking up a piece of toast.

"Almost, you?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"No where near. I do this every year though, It's like a tradition, leaving it until the last minute." said Tonks.

"I see." Lupin said, laughing.

"Hey Tonks, I forgot to mention. Lily wants to see you." James said, taking a five new pieces of bacon.

"Where is she?" she asked, drinking some orange juice.

"I think she's in the library." James replied.

"I guess I'll go and see her then. See you all later." Tonks got up and walked out of the Hall trying to find Lily. She walked to the library and sure enough Lily was there.

"James said you wanted to see me?" Tonks asked, approaching Lily.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you something." Lily said, smiling at Tonks. "I sent an owl to my parents the other day, and I told them all about you. They were wondering, if it was alright with your parents, that if maybe you wanted to stay at my house for New Year?" Lily asked.

"I'd love too!" Tonks squealed, giving her friend a hug.

"That's a relief, but you'll have to ask your parents. Hopefully they'll say yes, and that way I won't

have to put up with Tuney calling me a freak on my own." Lily replied, a wide grin on her face. "Oh and I wanted to give you this."

She handed Tonks a envelope, which contained a Christmas card. It was a picture of the four girls - Claire, Sarah, Lily and Tonks - from the Christmas Ball. Lily had obviously used a spell to make it a Christmas card.

Dear Tonks,

Have a great Christmas.

Love Lily (Your new best friend).

xxx

"Thanks Lily." Tonks said, tears of joy were welling up in her eyes. She had never received a Christmas card.

"Don't mention it." she replied. "I really meant the best friend part."

I know you did." Tonks said sincerely. 

"I'd better go, I need to pack. I'll see you later though, okay?" Lily said.

"Me too, course you'll see me later because you'll be missing me so much." Tonks said sarcastically. 

"That must be the reason." Lily said, rolling her eyes and laughing.

"Or maybe because I need to get my things from the other night." Tonks replied. "I'll see you later Lily!" Tonks shouted, on her way to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

The yellow and black stood out from one another, her teams colours were everywhere, and she raced up the stone stairs into the place she called sanctuary. She thrust open her trunk and rummaged about in it. Until she found them. Right at the bottom of her trunk she always kept a packet of Christmas cards in case she ever had any friends, she thought she would never get to use them. She took out her quill, and searched for her pot of silver ink. She decided to start with Lily.

Dear Lily,

Have a happy Christmas.

I won't say happy New Year because I will be their to happily wish it to you!

I'm glad I met you because you are honestly my best friend.

Love Tonks

xxx

She sealed the envelope and wrote Lily's name on the front of it and thought of what to write to Sirius and James.

Dear Sirius,

I hope you have a happy Christmas. I'm sure you and James will at least blow something up. It's weird only knowing now that you are my cousin. I couldn't ask for a better one though, you are a hero in my eyes.You saved me from being killed. Again, have a happy Christmas.

Love Tonks

xxx

Dear James,

Have a happy Christmas. I know that you'll spend most of it trying to think of ways to woo Lily. Have fun with that. I think she's beginning to see you for what you really are, a brave person. Thank you for saving me. Oh, and have a happy New Year!

Love Tonks

xxx

She sealed them up and began to write her last Christmas card, for Remus.

Dear Loopy,

Have a happy Christmas, I really mean it. I hope James and Sirius don't drive you crazy. Have a happy New Year too. It's kind of strange, because I've never written a Christmas card, so I don't really know what to put in it. I guess I'll see you after the holidays. Don't think I won't miss you though, because I will.

Love Dora

xxx

She sealed up the last Christmas card and put them on her dressing table. She decided that she would pack her things now and get it over with. She folded all her clothes up as best as she could, and then proceeded to arrange her books neatly into it. She had to sit on her case to get it to close properly, and she knew that it would have to be re-opened later. Just then someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." she said softly.

A girl with red hair entered the room and came and sat next to Tonks on the end of the bed.

"Lily? What's wrong?" Tonks asked, worried by her friends pale face.

"I've fallen for him. I've fallen for James Potter." Lily said quietly.

"At long last! That's great news, isn't it?" Tonks asked.

"I suppose. If he asks me out today, I think I might say yes." Lily replied.

"Lily, we all know that he'll ask you out today. After all, it is the last day of school." Tonks said.

"What happens if he doesn't though?" Lily asked.

"Lily, the day I don't fall or trip over something is the day that James Potter doesn't ask you out." Tonks replied sarcastically. Tonks reached over to her nightstand and handed an envelope to Lily. "This is for you."

"Thanks Tonks. I can't wait until New Year, it's going to be my best Christmas holiday ever."

"Mine too. Shall we go and find James, because I don't want you having second thoughts."

Lily regained the colour in her face and started to blush. She grabbed a pillow and hit Tonks with it. After a few minutes of giggling the girls went to find James, Sirius and Remus. Just before she left, Tonks grabbed the Christmas cards off of her bedside table.

They looked all over the grounds, until they eventually found them sitting out at a tree. Tonks noticed that a fire was ignited into a jar, keeping them warm. Sirius spotted the two girls and waved them over.

"Lillies and Tonks. My two favourite girls, what brings you here?" Sirius asked, eating a chocolate frog.

"Uh, you did." Lily replied, Tonks thought she sounded nervous.

"Lily, my sweet." James began. "Would you do the honours of going out -"

"Yes." Lily replied simply.

"Why do you reject me like this Lily my love?" James asked, so used to her saying "No," that he couldn't take in that she had said yes.

"I said yes, James." she replied softly, her cheeks turning pink.

James stood there, silent, which was never good.

"She said yes." he muttered to himself. "SHE SAID YES! MOONY! PADFOOT! SHE SAID YEEESS!" he cried like a five year old, skipping in circles around her.

Sirius burst out into hysterical laughter. "You…screamed…like…a…girl." Sirius said through bouts of laughter.

"James, you're making me dizzy." Lily said quietly.

"S-sorry." he stammered out, his cheeks turning red.

Lupin was staring at Sirius, then burst out laughing because he was laughing.

"Noo…Sirius…stop…laughing…you're…making…me…laugh…it…hurts!" he cried, beginning another fit of giggles.

After about fifteen minutes, Sirius and Lupin stopped laughing.

"Evans, what made you say yes?" Sirius said.

"He changed." she said simply.

"And it was my dashing good looks." James added, wiggling his eyebrows.

"When I say changed, I meant he was more responsible. He didn't change his ego in any ways." Lily said, rolling her eyes.

Tonks laughed, and sat down next to Lupin, and she was suddenly enveloped in the warmth of the fire in the jar.

"Who conjured that?" Tonks asked.

"Me." Lupin replied.

"You'll have to teach me that sometimes." she said, handing him his Christmas cards.

She gave James and Sirius their Christmas cards as well, which earned her a hug from James and Sirius each. But Lupin gave her a kiss.

"Urgh." Sirius said. "Can you go and suck face with my cousin somewhere else?" he asked.

"It's not like you haven't snogged a girl before is it?" she snapped back.

"Calm down children." James said sarcastically, who was sitting rather down with Lily.

"Okay, I'm calm. Lily and I have news!" Tonks cried excitedly.

"Ooh, news." James said, like a girl desperate for gossip. "What is it?"

"I'm staying at her house for New Year." Tonks announced happily.

"Lily, I'm hurt." James said sarcastically. "You're going out with me, and Tonks has been asked to stay at your house before me?" he pretended to clutch his heart, like it had broken.

"Cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it." she joked, taking his hand.

He had not response to her, he was shocked that she had taken his hand in hers.

"It looks like James Potter is finally lost for words." Sirius said, unable to believe it himself.

They spent the whole day by the tree, Sarah and Claire come to join them later. After hours of laughter, smiles, jokes and pictures they all retired back to their dormitories. Just before Tonks had wandered back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, Lily dragged her to the Gryffindor Common Room so she could collect her stuff from the other night. Lily had packed it all up for her.

"Thanks Lily." Tonks said, taking her things off of Lily.

"You're welcome." she replied. "I owled my parents and they're really glad that you can come."

"I'm glad too." she replied. "I'll see you tomorrow on the train?"

"Bright and early!" Lily replied sarcastically.

"I'll manage the bright, but not the early." she replied before going back to her dormitory.

She closed the yellow drapings that hung over her bed, and she fell in a slumber, the warm blankets being her best friend at that moment. Her alarm clock rung through her ears, she really didn't want to hear it. But nonetheless, she pushed herself out of bed and found her way to the bathroom. She cleaned her teeth, changed into clothes, a pair of jeans and a jumper. She wore flat boots on her feet, and she was ready to begin the challenge of hauling her trunk down the stairs. That's when the idea sprung to her. She could use magic, after all, she was a witch.

'How on earth did I forget that?' she thought to herself. "Wingardium Leviosa," she whispered, and soon her trunk was floating in mid-air. She smiled at herself, and continued the journey to the train station. She couldn't find any of the marauders, or Lily for that matter. She waited for them at the station, but they didn't turn up. The train was going to take off in a few minutes, so Tonks had no choice but to board the Hogwarts Express. She stored away her trunk and went to look for an empty compartment. She was just about to enter an empty one when she saw the four of them sitting in their own compartment, smiling at her, so she went and joined them.

"I couldn't find you anywhere!" she exclaimed, sitting next to Lupin.

"We thought we'd get here a bit early. So we were guaranteed a compartment." Lily said, who leaning on James.

"You mean _you_ thought that you'd get here a bit earlier." Sirius groaned, he looked half-asleep. "You practically dragged us out of our beds."

"You should be thanking me for it!" Lily snapped. "If I hadn't, you probably would still be lazing in bed now, and then you would have missed the train!"

Before Sirius could reply, James cut him off. "So Lily my dearest, are you going to miss me?"

"Surprisingly, I might miss you a little bit." Lily said.

"My magical charm, see boys? My girlfriend is going to miss me." James replied, tossing his hair out of his eyes.

"Then again, it might be nice to get a break away from you." Lily replied sarcastically. "Considering, that thing is going home with you." she pointed towards Sirius after saying this.

"Hey! I am not an it, I am a goddess of a he." Sirius replied, his face breaking out into a grin.

"Just keep telling yourself that." Lily said, rolling her eyes.

They were interrupted by someone coming into their compartment. It was Camilla Stevens group of friends.

"Nymphadora, I should have known that you would be with your protectors. I've heard that you can't even go around the castle on your own with out one of these lot walking beside you." Rachel Young sneered, she was almost as nasty as Camilla. "I mean, you must be petrified, after Derek came after you."

"H-how do you know about that?" Tonks stammered.

"I know lots of things, like what happened to your brother." Rachel hissed.

"I Think you'd better leave. Now." Lily said, clutching her wand tightly in her right hand.

Rachel gave them each a dirty look, then turned around and left with the rest of her friends

Tonks was on the verge of tears. She tried to control them, but she couldn't. One tear after the other fell down her face, but eventually, she regained her composure and stopped crying.

"I'm going to kill her." Lily hissed, her eyes were red with anger.

"Can I ask Tonks. What happened to your brother?" James asked.

Tonks told them the story of how her brother had fallen through the ice and drowned. BY the end of the explanation, Tonks was once again crying, whilst Lupin held her close to him. Lily had tears in her eyes also, James looked white. Whilst Sirius was furious.

"How dare she come in here and say that! I swear, if she wasn't a girl I would kill her!" Sirius said getting angrier and angrier.

"Sirius, calm down." Tonks pleaded, and she wiped away the rest of her tears. "Please, don't tell anyone about this. I need you to promise me."

James nodded, and eventually, Sirius gave a small nod as well.

An elderly woman's voice rung through the train, in a sing-song like voice saying, "Anything from the trolley dears?"

Sirius jumped out of his seat and reached into his pocket, extracting a few galleons into his hand.

"Five packets of Droobles, twenty Chocolate Frogs, and three packets of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans." Sirius said, handing the woman all of his money, and grabbing half of the sweets, James had to come and grab the other half.

"Honestly Sirius!" Tonks exclaimed. "You're really going to eat all of that?"

"No." he replied. "We all are."

"Sirius." Lupin said. "This is the first time that you have ever shared your food with anyone else."

"I'm feeling generous today." he replied, a lopsided grin on his face.

James had already devoured two Chocolate Frogs, and half a packet of Droobles.

"I was just testing them, to make sure they weren't poisoned or anything." James said innocently, chocolate all over his face.

"Of course you were." Lupin replied sarcastically.

Tonks wasn't feeling very hungry, but she was extremely tired. She just wanted to get back into her bed and fall asleep, but that wasn't possible. She yawned, and Lupin seemed to notice her.

"Are you tired?" he asked, eating an every flavour bean. "Gravy." he said simply.

"A bit." she replied. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"HOT! CHILLI! HOT! JAMES! HELP!" Sirius screamed, running around in circles like a madman. He had just eaten a chilli every flavour bean. James, Tonks, Lily and Lupin burst out laughing. James was a pile of giggles lying on the floor and Lily was holding onto the chair for extra support. Sirius grabbed the bottle of water Lupin had in his hand and took a long drink out of it.

"It wasn't funny!" he huffed, after his mouth had stopped burning.

"Mate, it wasn't funny. It was hilarious!" James replied.

"He's right Sirius, I never knew you screamed like a little girl." Tonks said, lying on Lupin.

"I do not!" he argued.

"I'm only joking." Tonks said, her eyes drooping. She tried to keep herself awake, but minutes later she fell asleep.

It must have been a few hours when she woke up again, because the train was nearly at its destination.

"W-where are we?" she asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"About five miles from King's Cross." Lily replied, James's arm across her waist.

"It won't be long until we have to leave." Tonks said, sighing slightly.

"We'll all see you soon though." Lily said. "I'll see you sooner than the others, again, I can't wait."

"Me neither. You'll need to owl me. I don't have one."

"I'll owl you as soon as I get home." Lily said.

"What about me?" James asked.

"You as well Jamsie Wamsie." Lily grinned, laughing at his nickname.

"I asked you not to call me that." James said, pouting.

"Fine. I will not call you Jamsie Wamsie anymore. Oh how I will miss that nickname." Lily said sarcastically.

Suddenly, the train came to a screeching halt. Students started to flood out of compartments.

"We'll wait until the rush is over." Lupin said, he had a firm hold of Tonks's hand.

Tonks suddenly wished that he would never let go of her hand, she didn't want to go home. As much as she loved her parents, she wanted to spend more time with her friends. The five of them left the compartment and searched for their trunks. All of them were off the train, and it was time to say their goodbyes.

"I'll see you soon then James." Tonks said, hugging James. "Have a great Christmas."

"I will. I want to say thanks to you, I think you helped me in getting Lily Evans. The love of my life, the apple of my eye-"

"I get it James," Tonks replied sarcastically. "and your welcome."

Tonks walked over to Sirius, who was flirting with some girls.

"Have you not got a hug for you cousin?" she asked.

"Don't be silly Nymphadora, of course I have a hug for you." he replied, embracing her.

"Don't call me Nymphadora. Have a nice Christmas, oh and you've got something in your teeth." she started to laugh as he started to frantically rub the mysterious substance away.

"Always embarrassing me." he said, flicking her.

"It's my job." she laughed, before playfully slapping him on the shoulder.

Lily was obviously saying goodbye to James, because they were kissing. Lily broke the kiss, and James's face was like a five year olds face, when they got to have a go on a broomstick. Tonks walked over to Lily.

"I'll guess I'll see you soon. don't forget to owl me. I think I would die of insanity if I didn't hear from my best friend all holiday." Tonks said, hugging Lily.

"I will, I won't forget." Lily said. "I'll see you at New Year, okay?"

"Only if I see you first." Tonks joked, she waved to Lily and then saw Lupin standing behind her.

"Loopy." she whispered, embracing him. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too. But I'll write. I promise." he replied, kissing the top of her head.

"You'd better. Have a nice Christmas." she replied, holding him tighter. "I don't want to go home." she whispered. "I don't want to leave you, call me crazy but I don't feel normal when I'm not with you."

"I feel the exact same way, but you are going to have to go home. I promise that I'll write, honest! Oh, Christmas card for you." he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a red envelope.

"Thanks. I'll see you in four weeks. Bye Loopy." she said turning to leave, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. Then he kissed her. It had taken her by surprise so she gasped, but then she settled into it. The world was oblivious to her, all she cared about was Remus Lupin, and staying in his arms as long as possible. She heard Sirius and James wolf whistle though, and one of them came and tapped Remus on the shoulder.

"Moony mate, sorry to interrupt, but my mum's waiting." James said, and Lupins face turned red along with Tonks.

"Oh, sorry Mrs Potter." he said to the middle-aged woman with long jet black hair tied back into a ponytail.

"Don't worry about it dear," she replied. "Don't be embarrassed either, I seen James and his lady-friend before."

"Mum!" James exclaimed, his face turning as red as Lupins.

"Bye Dora." he said, giving her one last hug, then running through the barrier with the three teenage boys.

She looked at the Christmas card and opened it, and one of the biggest grins formed on her face when she read it.

Dear Dora,

I hope you have a marvellous Christmas. But I will miss you, for I rather enjoyed seeing your pink hair everyday. I've written Christmas cards before, just never one to a girl, or my girlfriend for that matter. I'll see you in four weeks, hopefully it will not seem that long.

Love always,

Loopy

xxx

Tonks felt joyous, she wanted to break out and sing a song right there. But decided not to, as people would stare. Instead, she crossed the barrier and realised that these four peope will probably change her life. Forever.

* * *

**It's finished! I wanted to do a happy ending. But I'm thinking about maybe doing a sequel. Thankyou to everyone who read the story and to everyone that reviewed. I love you all. :)**

**I hope you liked it! **

**Nymphadora Lupin-Tonks**


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